Peter Bol (runner)


Nagmeldin "Peter" Bol is an Australian middle-distance runner. He competed in the men's 800 metres at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Biography

Bol was born on 22 February 1994 in Khartoum, Sudan. His family fled the civil war in Sudan when he was four. They lived in an Egyptian refugee camp for four years before immigrating to Australia. At the age of eight, he arrived in Toowoomba, Queensland. He grew up in Perth and attended St Norbert College. In 2017, he completed a construction degree at Curtin University.

Athletics career

Bol was a promising basketballer in Perth, Western Australia. When he was 16, a teacher at St Norbert College suggested he try 800 m running after a promising cross-country run.
In 2013, Bol stormed to victory in the junior men's 800 m at the Australian Athletics Championships in a personal best time of 1:48.90. In December 2015, he moved from Perth to Melbourne to train with coach Justin Rinaldi, who also coached joint national record holder Alexander Rowe. In 2016, he ran two Olympic qualifying times and was selected on the Australian team for the 2016 Rio Olympics. At the Olympics, he finished sixth in his heat in 1:49.36 At the 2017 IAAF World Championships, he finished seventh in his heat in 1:49.65.
On 10 June 2018, at IAAF meet in Stockholm, Sweden he set a personal best of 1:44.56 in the 800 m defeating training partner Joseph Deng.